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Bury's technical school was built in the Free Renaissance style, on a long irregular site between Broad Street and Moss Street. The principal elevation on Broad Street is faced with limestone. It is five bays wide and includes an impressive central doorway with swan-necked pediment, the words Technical School carved on the pediment. The main decoration is a frieze of five sculpted panels stretching across the front of the building, depicting crafts and skills taught at the school. Each composition comprises five people, carved in relief. Above the main doorway is a panel of five figures the central one, a female holding wreaths in her outstretched arms above figures representing the arts and applied sciences. right hand side: The near panel represents the Applied Sciences including science (a seated male figure with book and telescope); mathematics (a female measuring with a dividers); and chemistry (a seated female with a flask). A railway engine forms the backdrop of the panel. The end panel represents Literature and includes an author (seated male figure writing at desk, his foot standing on a sword); reading (a kneeling youth with books); printing (boy operating printing press); and a seated female, a lyre by her seat. left-hand side: The near panel represents the Arts including painting (a seated female at an easel); pottery (boy decorating a large vase); sculpture (boy carving a lion); and Architecture (a seated male holding the model of a building). The end panel represents Industry including textiles (female handspinner and male handloom weaver); mining (boy carrying a pickaxe and lamp); and metalwork (seated male by an anvil, holding sledgehammer). On the gable end at the rear of the building on Moss Street is a large circular carved municipal coat of arms.

Bury Technical School was built at a rapid pace, only 15 months separating the laying of the cornerstone by Lord Stanley in June 1893 and the official opening by his father, the Earl of Derby in September 1894. The school's origins lay in the legislation of the early 1890s - Technical Instruction Act, 1890 - which encouraged the establishment of schools for technical education. The council acquired land from Lord Derby in the centre of the town in 1892, a plot between Broad Street and Moss Street. The borough engineer, Joshua Cartwright was responsible for the planning and design of the building in a style he referred to as 'Classic with renaissance ornament.' The design included sculpted panels on the principal facade in Broad Street. These depicted subjects taught at the school and were the work of J. J. Millson and J. R. Whittick. They were not fully completed at the time of the building's opening.

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On panel with train

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